May pervert it, may betray it, May reveal it unto others." Thus said Hiawatha, walking From his pouch he took his colors, Life and Death he drew as circles, Life was white, but Death was darkened; Sun and moon and stars he painted, Man and beast, and fish and reptile, Forests, mountains, lakes, and rivers. For the earth he drew a straight line, For the sky a bow above it; White the space between for daytime, Filled with little stars for night-time; On the left a point for sunrise, On the right a point for sunset, On the top a point for noontide, And for rain and cloudy weather Waving lines descending from it. Footprints pointing towards a wigwam Were a sign of invitation, Were a sign of guests assembling; Bloody hands with palms uplifted Were a symbol of destruction, Were a hostile sign and symbol. All these things did Hiawatha Show unto his wondering people, And interpreted their meaning, And he said: " 'Behold, your grave-posts Have no mark, no sign, nor symbol. Go and paint them all with figures; Each one with its household symbol, With its own ancestral Totem; So that those who follow after May distinguish them and know them." And they painted on the grave-posts On the graves yet unforgotten, And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets, The Great Spirit, the Creator, Such as these the shapes they painted On the birch-bark and the deer-skin; Songs of war and songs of hunting, Songs of medicine and of magic, All were written in these figures, For each figure had its meaning, Each its separate song recorded. Nor forgotten was the Love-Song, The most subtle of all medicines, The most potent spell of magic, Dangerous more than war or hunting! Thus the Love-Song was recorded, Symbol and interpretation. First a human figure standing, Then the figure seated, singing, Playing on a drum of magic, And the interpretation, "Listen! 'T is my voice you hear, my singing!" Then the same red figure seated In the shelter of a wigwam, And the meaning of the symbol, 66 Thus it was that Hiawatha, On the smooth bark of the birch-tree, XV. HIAWATHA'S LAMENTATION. IN those days the Evil Spirits, Hiawatha, wise and wary, Answered ever sweet and childlike, "Do not fear for me, O brother! Harm and evil come not near me !" Once when Peboan, the Winter, Roofed with ice the Big-Sea-Water, When the snow-flakes, whirling downward, Hissed among the withered oak-leaves, Heeding not his brother's warning, Forth to hunt the deer with antlers Right across the Big-Sea-Water Sprang with speed the deer before him. With the wind and snow he followed, O'er the treacherous ice he followed, Wild with all the fierce commotion And the rapture of the hunting. But beneath, the Evil Spirits Lay in ambush, waiting for him, Broke the treacherous ice beneath him, Dragged him downward to the bottom, Buried in the sand his body. Unktahee, the god of water, He the god of the Dacotahs, Drowned him in the deep abysses Of the lake of Gitche Gumee. From the headlands Hiawatha Sent forth such a wail of anguish, Such a fearful lamentation, That the bison paused to listen, And the wolves howled from the prairies, And the thunder in the distance Starting answered "Baim-wawa!" Then his face with black he painted, "He is dead, the sweet musician! And the melancholy fir-trees Waved their dark green fans above him, Waved their purple cones above him, Their complaining, their lamenting. Came the Spring, and all the forest Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa, He is dead, the sweet musician!" He is dead, the sweet musician! Then the medicine-men, the Medas, Built a Sacred Lodge beside him, When he heard their steps approaching, Hiawatha ceased lamenting, Called no more on Chibiabos; I can blow you strong, my brother, I can heal you, Hiawatha!" "Hi-au-ha!" replied the chorus, Way-ha-way!" the mystic chorus. Friends of mine are all the serpents ! Hear me shake my skin of hen-hawk! Mahng, the white loon, I can kill him; I can shoot your heart and kill it ! I can blow you strong, my brother, I can heal you, Hiawatha ! "Hi-au-ha!" replied the chorus. "Way-ha-way!" the mystic chorus. "I myself, myself! the prophet! When I speak the wigwam trembles, Shakes the Sacred Lodge with terror, Hands unseen begin to shake it! When I walk, the sky I tread on Bends and makes a noise beneath me! I can blow you strong, my brother! Rise and speak, O Hiawatha !" "Hi-au-ha!” replied the chorus, "Way-ha-way!" the mystic chorus. Then they shook their medicinepouches O'er the head of Hiawatha, him; medicine-dance around And upstarting wild and haggard, Naught he questioned, naught he an- Straightway from his heart departed swered, But his mournful head uncovered, From his face the mourning colors There a magic drink they gave him, Chanted singly and in chorus, "I myself, myself! behold me ! 'Tis the great Gray Eagle talking; Come, ye white crows, come and hear him! The loud-speaking thunder helps me ; All his sorrow and affliction. Then they summoned Chibiabos Through a chink a coal they gave him, Through the door a burning fire-brand; Ruler in the Land of Spirits, Ruler o'er the dead, they made him, To the kingdom of Ponemah, From the village of his childhood, Where he passed, the branches moved not, Where he trod, the grasses bent not, Four whole days he journeyed onward On that journey, moving slowly, Many weary spirits saw he, Panting under heavy burdens, Laden with war-clubs, bows and arrows, Robes of fur, and pots and kettles, And with food that friends had given For that solitary journey. "Ay! why do the living," said they, 'Lay such heavy burdens on us! Better were it to go naked, Wandered eastward, wandered westward, Thus was first made known to mortals XVI. PAU-PUK-KEEWIS. You shall hear how Pau-Puk-Keewis Whom the people called the Storm Fool, On the shores of Gitche Gumee, On the dunes of Nagow Wudjoo, Danced at Hiawatha's wedding, Now, in search of new adventures, From his lodge went Pau-Puk-Keewis, Came with speed into the village, Found the young men all assembled In the lodge of old Jagoo, Listening to his monstrous stories, To his wonderful adventures. He was telling them the story Of Ojeeg, the Summer-Maker, How he made a hole in heaven, How he climbed up into heaven, And let out the summer-weather, The perpetual, pleasant Summer; How the Otter first essayed it; How the Beaver, Lynx, and Badger Tried in turn the great achievement, From the summit of the mountain Smote their fists against the heavens, Smote against the sky their foreheads, Cracked the sky, but could not break it; How the Wolverine, uprising, Made him ready for the encounter, Bent his knees down, like a squirrel, Drew his arms back, like a cricket. "Once he leaped," said old Iagoo, "Once he leaped, and lo! above him Bent the sky, as ice in rivers When the waters rise beneath it; Twice he leaped, and lo! above him Cracked the sky, as ice in rivers When the freshet is at highest ! Thrice he leaped, and lo! above him Broke the shattered sky asunder, And he disappeared within it, And Ojeeg, the Fisher Weasel, With a bound went in behind him!" "Hark you!" shouted Pau-Puk-Kee wis As he entered at the doorway; Then from out his pouch of wolf-skin Forth he drew, with solemn manner, |